


Database

by Chogisad



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Black Mirror AU, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 20:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13959072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chogisad/pseuds/Chogisad
Summary: A Chanbaek drabble based on Season 2, EP1 of Black Mirror, where in the future, a company allows you to download a loved one's entire digital existence after they pass, and that technology creates a hyperrealistic, interactive AI for you.





	Database

Bakhyun thinks the entire world has stopped spinning as he stands on Chanyeol's graveside. The bed at home is too empty, too cold, and no one understands that Baekhyun isn't whole without Chanyeol to remind him that people can be good.

Baekhyun wants to regret searching for the company, wants to regret paying for the program. He watches as hundreds of files upload, as pictures and videos and messages and emails all filter across his screen, piecing together the boy he loves. Baekhyun wishes he could regret it but as his laptop hums with the program's welcoming audio, Baekhyun's heart thunders painfully with hope.

You'll now receive a call from Park Chanyeol.

His phone vibrates and Baekhyun's hands shake as Chanyeol's familiar smile stares up at him from the screen. He answers and at first, he's silent, unable to fathom that this is happening, that any of this could actually work.

"H-hello?" Baekhyun's greeting cracks with fear and guilt and love.

"Hi Baekhyun." The voice answers and Baekhyun stops breathing. His entire existence comes to a jarring halt because on the other end, somehow, is Chanyeol. Because on the other end, Chanyeol is saying his name. Because the last time Chanyeol tried saying his name, he was choking on his own blood as the paramedics tore away at the crushed metal of their car. Because Chanyeol never got to the last syllable. 

"Chanyeol?" Baekyun whispers, holding the phone so tightly it could shatter between his palms.

"Yeah, it's me." The voice chuckles softly. Baekhyun wipes at his eyes with his sleeve, letting out a desolate sob.

"Y-You sound just like him." Baekhyun sputters, trying to remind himself that this isn't really Chanyeol. He's trying to find solid ground to stand on. He's trying to remember the feel of the earth under his feet at Chanyeol's funeral.

"I know-- that's kind of the point, Baekhyunnie." The voice answers and Baekhyun loses his breath because of course, of course that's what Chanyeol would say.

Baekhyun holds the bedsheets between his fists, tries to draw some strength to form a reply. The pain is suffocating, pressing into his lungs, threatening to splinter his ribs. Baekhyun knows he should hang up, knows he should delete all of this but he he's always been too selfish.

"D-do you remember the time we went skiing?" Baekhyun asks, digging his nails into his palms as the guilt crescendos, as the hurt ravages through his body.

"And you asked me to take all the pictures because your arms were too short?" Chanyeol's laugh is light and Baekhyun sheds more tears. He'd spent so much time without that laugh. At night, he wondered if he was remembering it right, terrified that he wasn't. "I sent the pictures to Yixing and made fun of you for it."

Baekhyun's laugh is caught between a giggle and a sob. He's caught between love and grief, between lost and found, and it feels like he'll split in two at any moment.

"Y-you kept that picture of us on the snow lift as your lock screen for months." Baekhyun's words quiver. 

"Of course I did. I looked really good in that picture." 

Baekhyun remembers how the sun made the snow glint as it descended through the sky. Even with gloves, his hands felt the frost, and Chanyeol had only laughed, pulling him closer. In the picture, Chanyeol's smile was so wide Baekhyun asked him if his face hurt. Chanyeol said no, because in the picture, Baekhyun was looking at him like he was the sun itself, illuminating everything he could reach-- everyone. 

"You taught me how to snowboard that weekend, too." Baekhyun manages, trying to swallow past the pain lodged in his throat.

"I thought you were hopeless at first. Remember that video I posted of you falling on your face? You were doing so well until that point." And Baekhyun recalls how beautiful he'd thought Chanyeol's voice was as he cheered him on. He'd replayed that video so many times after it happened, wishing Chanyeol had recorded the way he yelled 'I love you!' for the entire world to hear.

"E-Everything feels so cold without you, Chanyeol." Baekhyun whispers. 

"I'm sorry." The voice says and Baekhyun could swear his heart is cracking.

"Do you remember what you used to say to me at night?" Baekhyun asks.

He's met with silence, so definitive he thinks the call's ended. He's afraid of the answer, afraid Chanyeol will say he doesn't.

"Baekhyun," the voice is gentle. "There's no memory of that in the database."

And just like that, Baekhyun loses him all over again. He comes back to the present, rips himself away from a time when Chanyeol was still around to understand him.

'It's like being buried alive by snow, Chanyeol,' he wishes he could say, wishes Chanyeol could hold his hand as he waited out the loneliness. The world is moving on without him-- without them-- and with each passing second, Baekhyun becomes more numb under the frost. 

"I love you," the voice breaks through the storm. "That's the most common phrase in the database."

Baekhyun laughs this time because it's the only thing that makes sense. 

"What's the second?" 

And just like before, Chanyeol says it, wholly, lovingly, so convincingly the other boy might just thoughtlessly believe him. This moment is all he has left; it's crumbling and fleeting but it's tangible.

"Baekhyun."

It's enough. For now, it has to be enough.

Baekhyun hangs up the phone and lays down, replaying Chanyeol's voice in his head, hoping he can hold on to him for just a little bit longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
